Thanks to Tyler Perry, a Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, woman will soon be living in a new five-bedroom home with a pool. According to TMZ, the media mogul is funding an abode for Josephine Wright, a 93-year-old battling a property development company that is suing her over land that’s been in her family since the Civil War. Wright told USA Today that the Bailey Point Investment Group has been relentless in their efforts to obtain the property: “The harassment has been very stressful,” she said. “I’m hoping the outcome of this will be that these people will leave us alone and let me keep my property for the sanctuary of my family. This has always been a sanctuary.”
Though the legal dispute between Wright and the developers is still playing out, Perry has made his support for the family known since this summer. In June, the actor, producer, and playwright pledged to help Wright in her fight to fend off the developers, who are allegedly trying to obtain the South Carolina resident’s plot to continue the construction of their residential subdivision. He broadcasted Wright’s plight to his 7.5 million Instagram followers with a news clip of her story alongside the caption: “‘I’ve pretty much been a fighter all my life’ said 93 year old Josephine Wright. Well, that makes two of us. Ms. Wright, please tell where to show up and what you need to help you fight.”
Perry reportedly contacted the Wright family in August to get the building process for a new home on the property started. His help comes just in time too: A tree fell on Wright’s current house in September, creating two holes in the roof.
The modular home will be built off-site and then transferred to an open piece of Wright’s 1.8-acre estate. Work on the dwelling is set to begin in a few weeks, once all permits are secured. Blueprints of the home-to-be recently obtained by TMZ show an office and lots of spaces built for leisure activities, including a game room, a great room, an optional media room, and, of course, a porch, a signature feature of southern homes.
“We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to Tyler Perry for his generous contribution towards helping Grandma Josephine build her new home,” Charise Graves, one of Wright’s granddaughters, wrote on the family’s GoFundMe page.
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A number of other celebs, including rapper Meek Mill, commented on the post, with the likes of Snoop Dogg and Dallas Mavericks star Kyrie Irving pledging $10,000 and over $64,000, respectively, to aid in Wright’s fight.
Perry also donated $2.75 million earlier this year to help seniors in Atlanta at risk of losing their homes. He reportedly covered the back property taxes for 300 residents, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
